An IDEAL POCKETBOOK - what is it? Throwing your ideas in:)

[LDBoblo]

I'd really dig a 360-ish device with something better than Vizplex and perhaps a 7" screen. Even a smaller 5-6" screen could be great.

[Francesco]

avoid the need for a memory card to upgrade the firmware

[Yar-PocketBooker]

Wow...!!! I love this forum))))

What do you folks think about adding a wi-fi and/or 3G to small device like PB360?

[poshm]

Originally Posted by Yar-PocketBooker

Wow...!!! I love this forum))))

What do you folks think about adding a wi-fi and/or 3G to small device like PB360?

ONLY if it doesn't make the battery life any shorter than what it currently is. While it would be nice to have an 'all singing and dancing device' I'd hate features like this to have a detrimental effect on the main purpose of the PB360 as a reading device - other products like the iPod touch do wifi extremely well but have a terrible battery life.

[Alilas]

- bigger screen
- quieter button
- support MS Reader
- touchscreen without glare
- water proof. My PB360 had accidence with liquid more than a few times...

[Darqref]

I don't have a pocketbook, and I've never even seen one in person. But, you asked....

I like the previous idea of modular/separated screen and rendering engine. I agree about the desire for differently sized displays at different times, but since I'm a cellphone luddite, I don't carry a cell-sized device. But the ability to attach a larger screen when I want to see a novel's map, or the diagram in a magazine article would be entrancing. That was one of the reasons the roll-out design of the original Readius was so neat (but only if you could use part of it as well as all of it...)

Ergonomics are the key thing. After owning both a Rocket ebook and a Cybook Gen3, I can say that my next purchase WILL HAVE easy to use buttons (or I won't buy it - which tends to force me into waiting until I can actually hold one instead of buying by mail.) I hate the 4-way rocker button the gen3 uses, and won't buy one with that as the only button input.

I'd love to have a device with the comfortable grip of my old Rocket. The page buttons were comfortable under my fingers in whatever orientation I used. The larger diameter of the battery-case made it easy to hold. I could do with a bit lower weight than the rocket, but heavier than the gen3 would not bother me IF it was easier to hold. Think of this as an opportunity to use a different form of battery? I could see the usefulness of being able to insert AAA batteries, for example, that would keep one reading away from a power source.

Host abilities for both wireless and USB? If you can communicate with a computer or network wirelessly, why not a real hardware keyboard? (or any other wireless component - remote page turns, or maybe even an external screen for those times when you want a REALLY BIG font. And, I think it would be nice to be able to read from a USB thumb drive.

Gonna have to give up and actually post this or I'll be here all night.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Yar-PocketBooker

Wow...!!! I love this forum))))

What do you folks think about adding a wi-fi and/or 3G to small device like PB360?

You know I almost added why I might not want that in a 5" device. In my small device I really want one primary thing and that is reading. Seconday and not truly needed would be few common apps. An almost must have is the porting of X-word to the device, next I would love an app similar to an old Palm app called HandyShopper as well because that app is very useful for all forms of shopping, not simply the obvious like groceries. I use it for projects I am working on so that I never leave anything out. But something like HandyShopper is really not needed. I really am happy with the Pocketbooks concept of a device that is for recreational reading. I have a PDA I can drag along when it is relevant to my day.

I was going to suggest for some form of 3g (maybe wifi) but in reality, other than the removal of the need to use a cable to transfer content, I just am not sure I care about it in my pocket device. Maybe adding something like GPS in with the Wifi then it could be useful for me when out fishing or on a photography hike since my camera does not have that ability, even with an EyeFi card because of how their pseudo-GPS functions. Of course I am NOT one to carry a cell phone ever again...there is never a reason anyone needs to contact me anywhere I might be nor I they...if I fall down the side of a cliff then I can just lay there and enjoy the view on the way out. I have walked MILES at 10,000ft plus on broken or sprained ankles and no cell phone would have made a lick of difference. I just to not like an over reliance on connectivity everywhere we roam. Call me a Luddite but I feel it somehow makes us far less self reliant and able to take care of ourselves.

Also, I have no need to access some online book store from anywhere either, so wifi, sure, maybe or even cheap included in the price 3G fine, but that would only be for those who see it as a must have feature, and I suppose that is going to be the case soon anyway, if a device has no 3G then it's a POS and cannot possibly be worth buying. Just know I won't ever pay a premium for that particular feature. Sorry, I guess I have an opinion here...hehehehe...

But there is also a part of me which say, no to most changes other than a few apps like the X-word app. Why? Because the simplicity of the PB360 is he real attraction of the PB360 and 5" readers in general. I will add a larger format slate style device as a laptop replacement soon as they become a viable option. I have come to feel there really needs to be two classes of readers, the dedicated and simple reading device and the more advance slate device which is a real laptop replacement for 99% of what I do everyday.

One change I would like to bring into the mix is increased RAM. 512 MB is just really limiting and I do not want the added problems of an SD card slot given the way readers will grind away re-indexing content on the card a side effect of which is the need to power the slot the entire time the card is being accessed in addition to the CPU running non-stop until the indexing is done. I know my K1 is very frustrating at times because of the low internal user memory and adding a SDHC card can have a bad effect in battery life if there are too many files and the device spends waaaay to long indexing those files. So maybe increasing the internal USER accessible RAM to just 2GB as the 360 is a small device and I am not going to keep huge reference books on it. I imagine users who travel might like a bit more room to load up their devices before leaving. In fact if I very get back into my 3-4 week camping trips in the Sierra's I KNOW I would want more memory.

A battery with a bit more capacity than the 1000mA rating would be nice. These are LiPoly which means they are very easily produce in odd shapes allowing them to fit within the available space in the device...even if this means hooking two batteries together. As I recall to get more life hooking them in parallel would be the way to go but I am fuzzy on that at this micro second.

Back to 3g, my preferred connectivity over Wifi as I could use 3g to connect to my own VPN even from home, to access my home network resources or even the web. 3G represents more in terms of user mobility, wifi offers a tech that adds like 50-cents to the cost of the device for the wifi board and antenna (just wire). So, I would be fine with wifi but as I mention, I like the 360 almost as it is now with only a couple feature additions rather than touch or other hardware changes.

Obviously we all want silent click buttons to replace the current buttons. In fact it would be nice to offer an upgrade for owners of the current devices should a change be made in this area. I don't see it as a difficult change, PB could simply swap devices sending the old device back to the factory to be refurb'd then sold during sort of warehouse clearance type sales.

I am wandering off point here. Distilled down, I would NOT want a touch layer unless it is capacitive and had no negative impact on runtime. No resistive touch. I am probably not in favor of wireless of any sort as my intention for a 5" device is only reading. I do like the idea of increasing internal RAM, adding a few apps to offer other distractions when I am not quite in the mood to read (this would eliminate on of my needs to still carry my Clie).

Last, and this is going to require someone at Pocketbook actually use one of these devices, but get a Clie either the nx73v or nx80v, load up Mobireader the learn to use the "jog wheel" as Sony called it. Put it on the same side as the control buttons so it's position is hand agnostic. The wheel belongs there and after using it it will become apparent that as the eink-like panels improve to the point of things such as smooth scrolling a well developed integrated wheel will offer an alternative way to control the device over just the buttons, including accessing menus. For the many forlorn Clie users out there who took to this feature like ducks to water, that simply wheel is an invaluable/irreplaceable was to interact with your small handheld device, for one handed operation. On the right side it's not nearly as useful for right handed people. But even on devices with the current panel tech, a simply flick of the wheel up or down would change the page. If it would help I would be happy to send my precious nx73v to you so people there, even if you need to send it one to those "Wacky Guys In Kiev"...of course I would need a PB360 to ransom the thing back...heheheh...naw I would be happy to send it to you to play with. Sony had the device right other than their locked down version of the PalmOS. But a working version of either device can be had on eBay for about $100 and you get the added benefit of seeing what a real MgAlloy case can be like...these things are near indestructible.

One other thing. While using my K1 to see if I could really use it as an everyday reader, I ran into an issue I had previously never given a second thought the other day. And that is because of living somewhere with very bright & intense sunlight I discovered that the white of the K1 was horrible on my eyes because of the amount of light it reflected in direct sunlight. I like to read on my deck, which I built with that as one of my specific uses in mind. Only I did not use my Kindle for more than a couple days as it was commandeered by the better half as her reader. But some consideration might be given to trying different color options in such lighting. Now I am not all that close to the equator but even at 34-degrees northern latitude (a place like the beach in San Diego CA would be even worse), the sun is quite intense compared to even the light in a place like Seattle, WA which is, as I recall like 43-degrees northern latitude. In face you notice the lower natural like the moment you walk off the plane. Up there, no such issue exists. It's only for those of us closer to the equator where this can be an problem. I would ask that even the black framed readers be checked for such reflectance of light and alternatives be considered to avoid such a potential experience for a user. I would have been crest fallen if on vacation or working somewhere under really bright conditions that required I find a work around to avoid the sun. If one does not read outdoors then it will never be a factor. But for me, I had to stop trying to fight it after only 10-15 mins as i was getting a headache and really could not focus on the screen, which by the way looks AWESOME in the sunlight we have here.

I mention it because I was almost going to choose that really fun looking pearlized white over my favored black but now I know white is not even an option for me. And of course others will never have this sort of experience.

[brecklundin]

I have to add...I think the mere suggestion of a larger screen in the PB360 is nonsensical...it's primary attraction is the 5" panel. I suspect what people want is to have the integrated cover used on larger format devices. That makes sense, to pine away for a larger screen, even if external and/or modular, in a device designed for the specific reason of easier portability is, well, beyond my comprehension. I know I would never buy a 5" device with the idea of adding a larger screen...it's, well, it's...oh geeze, I simply do not see any value in the idea and cannot get my head around it as the logic eludes me...help?

[kacir]

My suggestions are very modest.

I wish it was possible to use *.otf fonts. There is possibility to convert an otf font to ttf, but you lose the hinting information and an otherwise excellent looking font looks very, very bad.
It might be as easy as enabling some option before compiling graphical environment or some library - PB uses fairy generic Linux stuff.

I wish that PB would cache pre-pagination of the book it has paginated before.
If you read several books at once, and you open a book you have read just a few hours ago, the device has to repaginate the book again and again and again. I think that the battery life could be extended this way. Another case when re-pagination is unnecessary is when you rotate the screen 90 degrees and then back. It repaginates the book twice. The same goes for opening the configuration menu. When you go to the configuration menu the book gets repaginated even if you haven't changed the font, line spacing or margins.
I think that processor cycles are very costly battery-wise.


In hardware I would like to have threaded holes in four corners of the device so you could mount the device in any kind of cover or [weather | bathtub] proof case.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Yar-PocketBooker

What do you folks think about adding a wi-fi and/or 3G to small device like PB360?

That's a tough one.
The signature of the PB360 is its form factor (portabiity, ergonomics, size and weight) and its focus on reading (limited bell-n-whistles; no audio, no case, no touchscreen). It is an ebook reader pure and simple.
More precisely, it is a paperback-replacement ebook reader.
In a world of (seemingly) a zillion 6" Kindle wannabes, PB360 stands out as the class of a smaller, more focused category; a pocketable reader you take with you.

So, the question you need to ask is: what does wireless (WiFi, 3G, 4G, whatever) add to the PB360 value equation?

Barring a full-function browser, wireless brings in the ability to, what? Shop wirelessly? For Kindle and Nook, devices that are essentially storefronts, it makes some sense to offer wireless. For an open, transparent, multi-vendor platform? Not so much. Not with the battery-sucking that comes with wireless. Not with the extra cost for components that might go unused 90% of the time.

Now, if a full-function browser (frames, etc) is part of the deal, then there might be some value in wireless for checking email, news sites, connecting to a personal server (a friend of mine keeps his full ebook collection on his home server and downloads books to his Kindle as needed). A full AJAX-capable browser in a PB360 package would be an interesting *communication* and cloud-computing device. But it wouldn't be an ebook reader. And it shouldn't use eink. (The PB360 could afford to thicken a bit, I suppose; so a color LCD version with a bigger battery might work. Wouldn't bet the farm on it, though. Cost. Cost. Cost.)

Priority-wise, I would suggest that future PB360 hardware evolution should look to color second and wireless third. First priority should be a PB360a that smooths out the few rough edges on the already good design (ahem; the wing buttons!). Explore/refine the *software* side. Add cheap value via apps and software options. To-do lists? Contacts lists? A recipe database app? A secure private-info repository ala eWallet? Work the software!

Above all, avoid checklist engineering; adding features for the sake of extending the spec sheet adds cost faster than it adds value and can easily undercut the gadget's value proposition. Remember the Pareto rule (80% of the cost comes from 20% of the features) and keep it simple. So far, PB360 is a shining example of this. (vis-a-vis MP3 playback).

You will *never* be able to satisfy everybody, so don't try; one of the hardest lessons to learn in business is that some customers you are better off without. Let your competitors go broke trying to satisfy them. If it is even possible...

Now, all this refers to the PB360 as a 5" reader.
(9" readers are obviously a different story.)

Bottom line, I think the PB360 will be more successful at a lower price point without wireless than with it at a (necessarily) higher price. Unless you are looking to establish a deal with either an ebook retailer or a wireless carrier for subsidized hardware... <shrug>

PB360 has a good value proposition now (expecially against the Sony and the Hanlin 5 inchers) built on solid software and ergonomics; riding the price curve downwards makes more sense to me than adding features of limited general value.

YMMV, of course.

[Ebiumn]

i agree with fjtorres

[norciom]

Originally Posted by Ebiumn

i agree with fjtorres

+1

But I really want my water proofing. So I am not afraid of summer rain.
I like to read while laying on the grass.

[poshm]

Originally Posted by norciom

+1

But I really want my water proofing. So I am not afraid of summer rain.
I like to read while laying on the grass.

Trying to fully waterproof an electronic gadget is very expensive and would add too much to the cost.

I use a waterproof clear case for mine which you can buy on Amazon called Tuff-luv e-volve aquatic pouch / case very very good and the bonus of Reading safely in the bath.

[norciom]

Originally Posted by poshm

Trying to fully waterproof an electronic gadget is very expensive and would add too much to the cost.

Seeing as they can make water prof phones it can't be that expensive.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That's a tough one.
The signature of the PB360 is its form factor (portabiity, ergonomics, size and weight) and its focus on reading (limited bell-n-whistles; no audio, no case, no touchscreen). It is an ebook reader pure and simple.
More precisely, it is a paperback-replacement ebook reader.
In a world of (seemingly) a zillion 6" Kindle wannabes, PB360 stands out as the class of a smaller, more focused category; a pocketable reader you take with you.

So, the question you need to ask is: what does wireless (WiFi, 3G, 4G, whatever) add to the PB360 value equation?

Barring a full-function browser, wireless brings in the ability to, what? Shop wirelessly? For Kindle and Nook, devices that are essentially storefronts, it makes some sense to offer wireless. For an open, transparent, multi-vendor platform? Not so much. Not with the battery-sucking that comes with wireless. Not with the extra cost for components that might go unused 90% of the time.

Now, if a full-function browser (frames, etc) is part of the deal, then there might be some value in wireless for checking email, news sites, connecting to a personal server (a friend of mine keeps his full ebook collection on his home server and downloads books to his Kindle as needed). A full AJAX-capable browser in a PB360 package would be an interesting *communication* and cloud-computing device. But it wouldn't be an ebook reader. And it shouldn't use eink. (The PB360 could afford to thicken a bit, I suppose; so a color LCD version with a bigger battery might work. Wouldn't bet the farm on it, though. Cost. Cost. Cost.)

Priority-wise, I would suggest that future PB360 hardware evolution should look to color second and wireless third. First priority should be a PB360a that smooths out the few rough edges on the already good design (ahem; the wing buttons!). Explore/refine the *software* side. Add cheap value via apps and software options. To-do lists? Contacts lists? A recipe database app? A secure private-info repository ala eWallet? Work the software!

Above all, avoid checklist engineering; adding features for the sake of extending the spec sheet adds cost faster than it adds value and can easily undercut the gadget's value proposition. Remember the Pareto rule (80% of the cost comes from 20% of the features) and keep it simple. So far, PB360 is a shining example of this. (vis-a-vis MP3 playback).

You will *never* be able to satisfy everybody, so don't try; one of the hardest lessons to learn in business is that some customers you are better off without. Let your competitors go broke trying to satisfy them. If it is even possible...

Now, all this refers to the PB360 as a 5" reader.
(9" readers are obviously a different story.)

Bottom line, I think the PB360 will be more successful at a lower price point without wireless than with it at a (necessarily) higher price. Unless you are looking to establish a deal with either an ebook retailer or a wireless carrier for subsidized hardware... <shrug>

PB360 has a good value proposition now (expecially against the Sony and the Hanlin 5 inchers) built on solid software and ergonomics; riding the price curve downwards makes more sense to me than adding features of limited general value.

YMMV, of course.

I am not sure if my rambling post was very clear, and it happens where I know what I am thinking but what my fingers type....welll....ummm, ok anyway, I agree with your points. First and foremost the attraction of the PB360, for me, is the form factor & integrated cover. Second is obviously firmware, last is price. But I also consider it only slightly a bit high for a 5" device. A magic point is that $199 and under market for a basic no wireless/touch reader. I would never want to see the current version of the 360 to price itself out of that market via, as you say and I love the phrase, "checklist engineering".

My comments were for a new version of the current 360 as I understood Yar to be asking.

The two changes I would want to see in the existing 360 device are weather/environmental sealing and a plastic panel with a scratchproof top layer for those days on the beach or dusty trail where grit can find it's way onto the panel then without thinking a person just uses a shirt corner to wipe the panel off...result....scratches.

poshm: I want to mention that you can buy Point's shoot DSLR's that are totally waterproof for under $300. And a digital camera is far more expensive parts wise than a 5" reader. a digital sensor along with the associated processor is very expensive compared to the guts of an ereader where the cpu is like $4-$5 in the quantities Netronix would buy them. I expect you are thinking people might be discussing waterproofing to the point of taking the camera diving, that is a different animal all together because pressure seals ARE expensive to design and test. I know I am taking about waterproofing for the accident spilled beverage, a drop in a puddle or even into the pool where it should survive for a few seconds even at 3-4ft under water. The side effect of this sealing is it will also prevent dust from creeping into the device.

The gaskets used as the seals are simple in design, usually they expand when in contact with moisture sealing any gaps. it's not advanced technology and also very inexpensive. Plus there already exist waterproof buttons (which as luck would have it, are also soft-click silent buttons) So improving the water resistance should be cheap and be easily off-set by the drop in the price of other components.

The actual difficult part is a scratch-proof plastic top layer for the panel. Right now for about $10-$15 one can buy a nice plastic sheet type overlay for a device to protect the panel which do not alter the clarity at all. So, the added cost to a device is again, trivial since the cost to Netronix would be probably around $3-$4 each max...yet there are types of Lexan that are virtually immune to scratching. Still, thinking about it a high quality user added screen protector might be a better option.

So, in general these changes should add nothing to the cost directly other than possibly allowing the PB to keep their devices slightly above other low budget brands like Astak.